iOS5 or Not

October 28, 2011 - Dave Hecei

I’m still a little wary about iOS5. I haven’t yet taken the plunge and updated my original iPad. I do like some of the features in 5, but I’ve read a few things that I don’t like. Mainly, there’s a lot of data being bandied about from device to cloud to device.

The other problem I’m facing is whether or not going to iOS5 on my iPad will benefit me unless I update all my other Macs and devices. While I have Lion installed on one of my drives, which I can boot from if I need to, I am not using Lion on a day-to-day basis. To get the most out of iCloud, I’d have to be running Lion on all my Macs.

I also have an iPhone 3GS that was provided by my employer. I can’t just up that to iOS5 on my own accord. It might get updated sometime in the future, but not having it on iOS5 now might limit what it gives me on my iPad.

It’s a conundrum. There’s the constant march of technology to have the latest and greatest software and operating systems. While that might be good for some, it is not always the best for all. Whenever you upgrade there is always going to be something you lose for whatever you gain. This could be certain software titles or an important piece of hardware that you really need.

When I installed Lion, shortly after it was released, I found that none of my versions of Microsoft Office would run. This was caused by Lion not having Rosetta, a piece of software Apple used to include that allowed Intel based Macs run PowerPC based software. Since Rosetta is gone, no PPC apps.

If you are interested in going to iOS5 and are a little worried, like me, check out macworld.com. This is the website run by the publishers of MacWorld magazine. They have plenty of articles about iOS5. They also just released an iBook called iOS5 Upgrade Guide. It’s only $2.99 and is available through the Apple iBook Store.